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News Commentary

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17/01/2023

Climavores: Rowan Jacobsen on Wild Chocolate and the Climate cost of Cacao

It’s no secret that chocolate is a sweet loved by pretty much everyone (well, everyone except Tamar). Here in the states, the average American eats about 12 pounds of chocolate a year, and worldwide we eat eight million tons of it annually. Unfortunately, our obsession with chocolate comes with a high carbon footprint. It also often creates terrible labor conditions for the communities who cultivate it. This week, Mike and Tamar speak with Rowan Jacobsen — author, journalist, and host of the podcast “OBSESSIONS: Wild Chocolate” — to discuss how we make chocolate in a way that’s good for the planet and people. Full transcript here. To leave a message for Mike and Tamar, call the Climavores hotline at (508) 377-3449. Or email us at climavores@postscriptaudio.com. We might feature your question on a future episode. Climavores is a production of Post Script Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

17/01/2023

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53 min
28/03/2023

The state of the digital transition for utilities

The smart meter unlocked a trove of data on how people use energy in their homes. And it created the opportunity for utilities to offer more services based on customers' individual needs and consumption habits. These demand-side services are crucial for decarbonizing the grid, enhancing reliability, and integrating more renewables. But many utilities are still in the early stages of digitizing their operations. As director of industry marketing for energy and utilities at Salesforce, Sharon Talbott is helping power providers get more digitally sophisticated. “Utilities still keep a lot of their data in different silos, and then a lot of their processes are done on spreadsheets and with people handing packets of paper to each other with wet signatures and things like that. So a lot of utilities want to change that,” explains Sharon. This week, Brad talks with Sharon about how she works with electricity companies to provide more digital services and products to their customers in order to modernize their operations. This podcast is produced by GridX. GridX is the Enterprise Rate Platform that modern utilities rely on to usher in our clean energy future.

28/03/2023

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21 min
05/11/2024

Will today’s election set the energy transition on a new course?

Sonia Aggarwal spent the early years of her career moving between nonprofits and the private sector, supporting renewable energy deployment. But after watching early climate policies fail in Washington D.C., she realized her energy modeling skills could better serve the clean energy transition. In 2012, she co-founded Energy Innovation, a nonpartisan energy and climate research organization that works with policymakers on policy design. Today, after a two-year stint advising Biden’s climate team, Sonia leads Energy Innovation’s team of nearly 45 policy analysts, economists, and energy modelers. Kicking off the fourth season of With Great Power, Sonia tells Brad why the 2024 election is likely to send the energy transition down one of two very different paths. But, she explains, some areas of progress will continue, regardless of shifts in the White House. This podcast is produced by GridX in partnership with Latitude Studios. GridX is the Enterprise Rate Platform that modern utilities rely on to usher in our clean energy future.

05/11/2024

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21 min
28/02/2023

Putting innovation into practice inside utilities

There's a saying in the business world that if you're not innovating, you're dying. For Josh Gould, that applies to utilities, too. In the risk-averse utility industry, it can be hard to push for change, or do things unconventionally. Josh believes that getting people motivated around an idea is the key to success, which he learned in his time as an energy technology researcher for the government. This week, Brad talks with Josh Gould, director of innovation at Duquesne Light Company, about how he puts innovation into practice at the company. This podcast is produced by GridX. GridX is the Enterprise Rate Platform that modern utilities rely on to usher in our clean energy future.

28/02/2023

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23 min
09/11/2022

The Ike Dike: the biggest civil engineering project in US history

As the cost of living with hurricanes grows, coastal cities across the country are starting to ask the trillion dollar question: what can we build to protect ourselves, and how much are we willing to pay? This week, producer Alexandria Herr takes us to Texas, where the largest civil engineering project in U.S. history may soon put those questions to the test. The Houston area is a sitting duck for a hurricane that scientists say could cause an environmental and economic catastrophe. But the $31 billion “Ike Dike,” approved this summer by the House and Senate, would help protect the region. Will it be enough to prevent disaster? Guests: Kiah Collier, you can read the Peabody award winning reporting on the potential impacts of a hurricane on the Houston area for Propublica and the Texas Tribune here. Dr. Bill Merrell is a professor emeritus at Texas A&M University at Galveston. Dr. Jim Blackburn is a professor in the practice of environmental law at Rice and co-director of the Severe Storm Prediction, Education & Evacuation from Disasters Center.

09/11/2022

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37 min
13/11/2024

Why concentrated solar couldn’t compete

In 2009, John Woolard’s team flipped the switch on a first-of-a-kind concentrated solar power project. The pilot paved the way for BrightSource Energy, where John was CEO, to build its first commercial CSP plant, a 440-megawatt project in the Mojave Desert called Ivanpah. John and his team believed they were far ahead of the competition, including photovoltaics. And they were on the verge of building several large, concentrated solar plants. That was the plan. But in the middle of building the first commercial plant, the BrightSource team faced a series of unexpected challenges that forced them to ask: “if we stay the course, will we survive?” In the first episode of The Green Blueprint, host Lara Pierpoint talks to John Woolard, former CEO of BrightSource Energy and current CEO at Meridian Clean Energy, on lessons from the concentrated solar boom and bust. They dig into how John salvaged a financial deal that collapsed in the middle of a global financial crisis, the unexpected challenges of permitting and environmental regulations, the competitive threat of solar PV, and knowing when to pivot. The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this podcast, subscribe to Latitude Media’s newsletter. On December 3 in Washington, DC, Latitude Media is bringing together a range of experts for Transition-AI 2024, a one-day, in-person event addressing both sides of the AI-energy nexus: the challenges AI poses to the grid, and the opportunities. Our podcast listeners get a 10% discount on this year’s conference using the code LMPODS10. Register today here!

13/11/2024

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34 min
7 MAY

Terawatt Infrastructure’s billion-dollar strategy

In 2021, Neha Palmer co-founced Terawatt Infrastructure with a bold mission: create the backbone for America's electric trucking revolution. Within its first year, Terawatt secured a billion-dollar investment. But as the company developed plans for a nationwide charging network, it confronted the daunting challenge of building infrastructure for an electric truck market that barely existed. High-profile bankruptcies like Nikola Motors cast long shadows over the sector's viability, raising questions about whether heavy-duty transport can truly be electrified. In this episode, Lara talks with Neha about how Terawatt aims to transform freight transport despite market skepticism. Neha explains Terawatt’s strategic approach to site selection, innovative charging designs for fully-loaded trucks, and the vision for a revolutionary California-to-Texas network. Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced by Erin Hardick. Edited by Anne Bailey and Stephen Lacey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.Register here for Transition-AI 2025 in Boston on June 12th, 2025. Use promo code LATITUDEPODS10 for 10% off your ticket.

7 May

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34 min
TRAILER

Season three is on the way

Over the past two seasons of With Great Power, you've heard stories from all kinds of people working at the front lines of change on the power grid. We've covered the rise of electric vehicles, explored the dawn of long-duration storage, unpacked the utility digital transformation, and asked: how can power companies learn from other industries about change? In March, we’re coming back for another season on the tech, business, and market forces that are changing the grid. Season three will feature stories from some of the nation’s biggest utilities and most nimble cooperatives; we’ll hear from analysts and researchers following tech trends, like artificial intelligence and virtual power plants; and we'll dive into the massive federal efforts to make the grid more agile and resilient. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or any other podcast app to get fresh episodes when the new season drops.

Trailer

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2 min
04/09/2024

Frontier Forum: How rates will make or break the energy transition

Dynamic pricing is everywhere – and impacts all of us. Whether it's the time of day, your location, or the amount of demand, so many of our decisions are driven by real-time pricing changes. But it's still a relatively new concept in electricity. This week, we're featuring a conversation with Scott Engstrom of GridX and Economist Ahmad Faruqui on the imperative for good rate design – and the consequences of getting it wrong. How do we create dynamic rates that are fair, transparent, and effective at valuing distributed resources? And how do we use technology to design and implement those rates – and perhaps eventually automate them on a real-time basis, as many hope? This episode was recorded live as part of our Frontier Forum series. Watch the full video here.

04/09/2024

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49 min
18/01/2023

Maximizing the value of distributed energy

Distributed energy resources, or DERs, can be a powerful tool for managing the local grid. They’re more complicated to manage than traditional electricity delivery from central power plants, but they are vital for making the grid cleaner, more dynamic, and more resilient. Brenda Chew has been researching this concept for years. Now, she's helping put it into practice as the Director of Product Management at Virtual Peaker. “I think we're past the early adopting phase. It's just a lot more approachable or available for utilities of all different shapes and sizes to be thinking about how to stand up a program,” she explains. Grid management is constantly evolving. This week, Brad speaks with Brenda about her research on demand response, how it shapes her work as an innovative technology provider, and what it means for the future of the electricity system. This podcast is produced by GridX. GridX is the Enterprise Rate Platform that modern utilities rely on to usher in our clean energy future.

18/01/2023

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23 min

Latitude Media is an integrated B2B news, research, and events company focused on the new frontiers of clean energy and climate technology. We go beyond the headlines to provide impactful and actionable coverage, diving deep into the trends and stories that matter most to professionals across the sector. Producers of industry-favorite climatetech podcasts: The Green Blueprint, Catalyst with Shayle Kann, and The Latitude

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Latitude Media

Top Shows

Climavores: Rowan Jacobsen on Wild Chocolate and the Climate cost of Cacao

The state of the digital transition for utilities

Will today’s election set the energy transition on a new course?

Putting innovation into practice inside utilities

The Ike Dike: the biggest civil engineering project in US history

Why concentrated solar couldn’t compete

Terawatt Infrastructure’s billion-dollar strategy

Season three is on the way

Frontier Forum: How rates will make or break the energy transition

Maximizing the value of distributed energy

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